Adolescents' Beliefs About Peers' Engagement in an Online Self-Harm Challenge: Exploring the Role of Individual Characteristics Through a Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

In the last decade considerable attention has been devoted to the possible contribution of social media, and the Internet generally, to instigating adolescents' engagement in self-harm activities, which are considered the result of a combination of multidimensional variables, such as depression and anxiety. This study aimed to identify, using latent class analysis (LCA), classes homogeneous for adolescents' beliefs about peers' motivations in taking part in the recent Blue Whale Challenge Game, and to analyze the individual predictors (gender, mental health problems, self-harm and risk-taking behaviors, and problematic Internet use) of the adolescent's latent class membership. We performed an LCA using ''perceived attraction'' and ''perceived constraint'' as nominal indicators. Relative fit indices suggested the two class solution as the best measurement model: the first class was mostly composed of adolescents who attributed a central role to the adolescent (internal causality), while the second class mostly composed of adolescents who attributed a central role to the recruiters (external causality). In addition, we explored some individual characteristics to test whether they could predict adolescents' class membership. Results suggests that it is significantly more likely for adolescents with higher level of stress and risk-taking to attribute a central role to their peers' internal motivation, rather than to the recruiter, in deciding to take part in the online self-harm challenge game. Implications for preventive interventions are discussed.

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“…These results are consistent with previous studies that have resulted in the finding that individual characteristics will influence a person's attitude in various cases (Afridi et al, 2022;Aschemann-Witzel & Grunert, 2015;Çebi et al, 2022;Colledani et al, 2021;Fancourt & Mak, 2020;Flor & Finger, 2006;Fujii et al, 2021;Jafarkarimi et al, 1 C.E. ;Kim et al, 2019;Losada-Rojas & Gkritza, 2021;Villani et al, 2019).…”

Viral internet challenges scale in preadolescents: An exploratory study

“…Although dangerous challenges are less frequent (7.7%), we should not underestimate this percentage due to their severity. In this line, it is important to know the harm to which our adolescents are exposed in social networks and how to prevent these dangerous challenges, because access to self-harming or violent content can normalize this type of behaviors (Gámez-Guadix et al., 2020 ; Villani et al., 2019 ). In future lines of research, it would be appropriate to include uncivil challenges in the taxonomy, following the classification of Juárez-Escribano ( 2019 ).…”

“…To date, there is no record of any instrument to evaluate this construct that presents adequate psychometric indicators. The few studies carried out have focused on the content analysis of some specific challenges such as the Ice Bucket Challenge or the Blue Whale Challenge (Burgess et al., 2018 ; Pressgrove et al., 2017 ; Roth et al., 2020 ; Villani et al., 2019 ), case studies (Avery et al., 2016 ), or ad hoc designed surveys (Shroff et al., 2020 ) which do not cover the phenomenon in its entirety and do not provide any empirical reliability of the responses. There is also no theoretical framework on viral challenges (Jacquier, 2019 ; Juárez-Escribano, 2019 ), so approximations to constructs are currently exploratory.…”

The Implementation of CBT to Reduce Hyperactive Behaviors among Adolescents with ADHD

“…Adolescence is a developmental transition period between childhood and adulthood that generally begins at the age of 10 or 11 years and ends in the late adolescents or early twenty years ( [1], [2], [3]). At this time, adolescents experience the development of all aspects, both physical, psychosocial, and cognitive.…”